Anything For You
by SilverMikazuki
Summary: Ash and Dawn compete in a contest! Ash starts to realize that he loves Dawn, but Dawn still isn't sure, what'll happen?
1. The Contest

My second Pearlshipping story! One I've been thinking about for awhile! And see? I told you I could write a story without tickling! Whoo Hoo! Although… my next one will probably have tickling in it!

TALKING _THINKING_

* * *

"I am not lazy!" Ash shouted as he glared at the blue-haired coordinator in front of him.

"Really!? When did they change the definition of lazy!?" Dawn yelled back, "Cause as far as I know getting up at noon and never cleaning up after yourself is considered lazy!"

"Sorry _Mom!_" Ash apologized sarcastically.

"Jeeze Ash! Your such an immature **idiot!**" Dawn shrieked at the young trainer.

"I am not! I've got a lot more experience than you!" Ash protested.

"Yeah? Well I could kick your butt any day of the week!" Dawn yelled.

"No way! Let's battle right here, right now!" Ash demanded.

"Ha! You'd like that, wouldn't you!? Battling! That's all you ever think about! Maybe you could beat me in a battle, but in a contest! Ha! You'd have no chance!" Dawn laughed angrily.

"I would too!" Ash argued.

"Oh yeah? Prove it!" Dawn countered.

"Alright! I'm entering the next contest!" Ash retaliated.

"Pika!?" Pikachu asked in surprise.

"Really?" Brock reiterated.

"Yeah! I am! So… where is the next contest?" Ash asked, realizing he had absolutely no idea.

After they had all finished sweat dropping, Brock looked through his map and said, "The next contest is actually next week in the town right after this one."

"Great! Let's go do some training Pikachu!" Ash yelled as he ran off.

"Let's go too Piplup!" Dawn said angrily, walking off in the opposite direction.

"Piplup-lup!" The small blue penguin cried as it waddled after her.

"This is gonna be a long a week…" Brock sighed to himself.

~A week later at the contest arena

"I would like to register for this tournament!" Ash shouted to the attendant.

"Alright and do you…" The attendant started.

"I WOULD TO!" Dawn interrupted, pushing Ash out of the way.

"Hey! I was here first!" Ash complained.

"Come on Dawn, I know your psyched, but calm down. You'll do just as well even if you do enter after Ash," Brock sighed, pulling the girl back as she scrambled for the desk.

"Pip-lup!" Piplup agreed.

"Yeah, I guess you're right…" Dawn admitted, "But you better hurry up Ash Ketchum!"

"Okay! Fine!" Ash replied, handing the attendant his coordinator card.

"Thank you, you're all set!" The woman said as Dawn appeared at the desk.

"Me too please!" She exclaimed excitedly, handing her, her card.

"Sure, and… there we are! All ready to go!" She replied, handing her back the card.

"Thank you," Dawn said, turning back to face her opponent, "And now I'm going to go change!"

She walked off leaving Ash to think about the contest.

"Jeeze… what have I done?" Ash asked himself quietly.

"Pika?" Pikachu asked, looking to his trainer with concern.

"Don't worry buddy! I'm fine… I just… I'm not sure how this happened…" He replied, looking down until his cap covered his eyes.

"Pikaa…" The little yellow mouse cried, cocking its head slightly as it looked up at him.

"Thanks Pikachu," Ash said gratefully, "I think I'm gonna go talk to her."

"That Ash! Thinking he can beat me at a contest! Humph! Well I'll show him!" Dawn said angrily as Piplup watched her comb her hair in frustration.

"Hey Dawn?" Ash sighed, walking into the room.

"What do _**you **_want?" Dawn replied, turning away from him.

"Look Dawn, I'm really sorry for all this…" Ash muttered regretfully, "I didn't mean to get you so mad at me. I guess I was just caught up in the argument…"

Dawn stopped turning around in surprise at her friend's words.

'_When did he get so mature?_' She said silently.

"Really?"

"Of course! I don't want you to be mad at me! So… I'm dropping out of the contest," Ash continued, turning to leave.

'_Whoa! This isn't like him! Backing out of a challenge like this? What happened to Ash!_' Dawn thought, immediately countering with, "What's a matter Ash, afraid you loose?"  
"Now wait just a…" The trainer began, spinning back around to meet a grinning Dawn.

"Let's have a nice, friendly battle, 'kay?" She asked smiling as she extended her hand.

Ash looked down and pulled her into a hug, "As long as you promise you won't get mad when I win."

"We'll just see about that," Dawn responded, pulling away slowly, "Now let's get this started!"  
"Yeah!" Ash yelled happily as they walked out together.

"And now in the final battle are Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town and Dawn Berlitz from Twinleaf Town!" Marian announced as Ash and Dawn took their places on the stage.

"Ready Ash?" The coordinator asked.

"Yep!" Ash replied grinning brightly.

"GO BUNEARY! SPOTLIGHT!" Dawn shouted throwing the pokeball into the air and releasing the small bunny pokemon.

"Go Pikachu! Let's do this!" Ash yelled as Pikachu left his side to join Buneary on the stage.

"Bunn!" Buneary cooed winking at the small yellow mouse opposite her.

"Pikaaa…" Pikachu sighed, sweat dropping at the sight.

"Buneary! This is a battle! Not a date!" Dawn yelled to her pokemon.

"Bun!" It replied, getting serious instantly.

"And… let the battle begin!" Marian yelled.

'_Ya know… I've never noticed how beautiful Dawn looks in that dress…_' Ash sighed in content while Dawn started the battle.

"Buneary Icebeam!"

"Huh?" He said, knocking himself out of the trance as Pikachu froze in a block of ice, "Pikachu! Quick use thunderbolt!"

"Piiiiikaaaaachuuuu!" It shouted as lightning cracked through the ice, turning it into a fine powder.

"And that beautiful thunder turned Buneary's Icebeam into a crystal mist showing off Pikachu's glorious shine!" Marian commented as Ash and Dawn's points went down.

"Quick attack Pikachu, go!" Ash yelled as his partner followed, striking Buneary dead-on and sending it flying backward.

"Buneary! Turn and land on your ears! Then use bounce!" Dawn shouted as Buneary did just that, counter attacking perfectly.

"Pikachu! Charge up electricity in your tail and then use Iron Tail!" Ash ordered.

"Pika!" It shouted back.

"That stored electricity is shining off of Pikachu's glowing tail making that attack just as beautiful as it is powerful!" Marian exclaimed.

"Oh yeah!? Buneary! Dizzy punch! GO!" Dawn yelled as Buneary attempted a counter attack.

It was flung back, sparking with electricity as it stood back up.

"Let's finish this Pikachu! Volt Tackle!" Ash yelled.

"Pika, pika, pika-pika, pikapikachuuu!" Pikachu shouted as it ran at Buneary, lightning crackling around it.

"Buneary! Bounce then use Icebeam!" Dawn yelled.

'_All I have to do is tell Pikachu to jump into the Icebeam, the ice will be evaporated by the lightning and we'll make a direct on Buneary, but… if Pikachu keeps going it'll slip on the ice and slide into the wall and we'll probably loose enough points for Dawn to win, especially with such little time left!'_ Ash thought to himself as the Icebeam got closer.

"Pika…" Ash began.

He looked to Dawn and immediately flashed back to the last contest Dawn had lost.

'_She was so upset…_' Ash sighed, '_Sorry Pikachu…_'

He said nothing and the Icebeam hit in front of Pikachu, freezing the ground and causing Pikachu to slip and fly into the wall as Buneary landed gracefully behind them.

"And that's it for time! By a narrow victory… the winner is… Dawn from Twinleaf Town!" Marian shouted excitedly.

Ash smiled and then ran to Pikachu, who was just standing up.

"You okay buddy?" He asked, concerned.

"Pikaa…" The little mouse apologized.

"Nah, it's okay Pikachu! You did great! I guess I'm just not cut out for contests!" Ash said, petting it and then standing back up.

The ribbon was awarded to Dawn and soon everyone had left the stadium, including Ash, Dawn and Brock.

"Nice battle," Brock commented as he and Ash waited for Dawn to change.

"Yeah, it was," Ash replied.

"It looked to me like you were thinking quite a lot on that last move," Brock noted, "That's not like you."  
"Hey!" Ash protested.

"That's not what I meant," Brock corrected him, "I only meant that usually you go on instinct and it looked like you had a plan to win."

"Well… I…" Ash began.

"You shouldn't throw a match so she can win," Brock chided, "I know you only did it so she'd be happy, but she'll never learn that way."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Ash replied blushing as Dawn walked out into the lobby.

"Great battle Dawn!" Ash exclaimed grinning at her.

"Yeah!" Dawn replied excitedly.

"Uh huh…" Brock added sarcastically.  
"Shut up!" Ash hissed, elbowing him in the side as he walked up to Dawn.

"You did great Dawn," He complimented.

"You too! Pikachu was wonderful," Dawn said, stroking the small pokemon's cheeks as it purred happily.

"Yeah… wonderful," Brock sighed, rubbing his side where Ash had nudged him.

Dawn looked to her older companion and shrugged making a mental note of the incident as they walked outside. After a night of fun and celebrating the trio returned to the pokemon center for a good night's sleep.

"Hey Ash?" Dawn whispered as she walked out onto the small patio.

"Dawn? What are you doing up?" Ash asked turning to face her.

"Couldn't sleep," She muttered quickly.

"Yeah, me neither, so what is it?" He sighed.

"Did you… did you throw the match today?" She asked quietly.

"Damn that Brock!" Ash said annoyed.

"Brock didn't tell me anything," Dawn corrected him.

"Oh." Ash grumbled, feeling really stupid.

He blushed and turned away from the coordinator whispering to her, "You mad?"  
"Turn around and find out," She told him.

He did and got flicked in the nose for his trouble.

"Oww! Hey! I only did it so you wouldn't be upset!" Ash whined, grabbing his nose in pain.

"I know," Dawn replied calmly.

"So why did…" Ash started as he looked back up at her.

She leaned in and pecked him on the lips, "It was sweet."

Ash blushed and grinned sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Don't do it again," She warned, turning and walking back inside.

He grinned wider and looked back towards the city, "Wow…"

He stumbled back inside, still dazed by the kiss and crawled into bed. A few minutes later he fell asleep, his head swimming with thoughts about one person and one person alone.

"_Oh Ashy," Dawn cooed as she pulled on his shirt._

"_H-huh?" Ash asked started as his face heated up._

"_I love you Ashton Ketchum, you're the strongest trainer I've ever met," Dawn continued smiling as she pulled him closer._

"_R-really!?" Ash exclaimed still really shocked._

"_Why of course!" Dawn replied, pushing him down onto the bed, "I've always loved you!"_

"_W-what… umm… what are y-you doing?" Ash stuttered as Dawn climbed on top of him._

"_I dunno, just havin' some fun," She replied, leaning closer to Ash's beet-red face._

"_B-but, w-what if B-brock sees!?" He said, stumbling to find the right words._

"_There's no need to worry," Dawn replied grinning at him, "We're just gonna have a little fun."_

"_B-but Dawn…" Ash started._

"_Like I said, there's no need to worry," Dawn replied, "Come on Ash, don't you love me? Huh Ash?"_

"_O-of course!" Ash answered quickly._

"_Ash?" Dawn called._

"_I do love you!" Ash yelled to her._

"_Ash?" She repeated.  
"ASH!"_


	2. Confessions and Drama

"ASH!" Dawn screamed shaking him violently from his dream.

"D-dawn! Umm… w-what… what are you doing?" Ash asked her as he sat up, nervously looking around.

"Waking you up! It's time for breakfast!" Dawn replied, standing back up and walking off.

"R-right… umm… I-I'll be right there," Ash replied, thinking intently about the dream, "_Okay Ketchum! Get a hold of yourself! You can't be feeling this about Dawn! S-she's your best friend! She… she doesn't like you like that…_"

Ash stood up and got dressed, walking over to Dawn and Brock to help serve breakfast. Almost immediately after they had finished, a kid came over with a Sandslash at his side.

"Hey you! You're Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, right?" He shouted as he and the Sandslash walked over.

"Yeah and who are you?" Ash replied standing up.

"I'm Steve! And I challenge you to a battle!" He yelled.

"Yeah! Let's do it! Come on Pikachu!" Ash shouted to his partner as the battle began.

"Sandslash use swift!" Steve yelled.

"Pikachu dodge and…" Ash began looking over to Dawn who was cheering for him.

"_God she looks beautiful… dammit Ash! Stop thinking about her like…_" The young trainer thought.

"PIKAAAAA!" Pikachu cried as he flew across the field.

"Ash! What are you doing!?" Dawn shouted, breaking him out of his trance.

"Oh right! Pikachu! Use Iron tail!" Ash yelled as the little yellow mouse did just that.

"Sandslash! Fury swipes!" Steve shouted.

The two attacks clashed and Steve's Sandslash flew back into the ground.

"Dig, now!" Steve yelled as his Sandslash dug into the earth.

"Pikachu! Wait for it to appear and then use Iron Tail!" Ash ordered as he scanned the battlefield.

"You can do it Ash!" Dawn shouted with approval, making Ash look over.

"_Dawn… I… I think… that maybe… possibly… I-I…_" Ash thought, while Sandslash burst out of the ground behind Pikachu and used Stone Edge, getting a direct hit on Pikachu and sending it right into the dirt.

"Pikachu!" Ash shouted running over to the Pokemon as it sat back up.

"Pikaa…" It whined, crawling into his arms.

"Wow, I was expecting a lot more," Steve said, calling his pokemon back, "Oh well."

He walked off as Dawn and Brock met Ash halfway to the campsite.

"What happened Ash? You should have been able to cream that guy!" Dawn asked shocked.

"I have to agree," Brock noted, "Is there anything you want to talk about?"  
"N-no," Ash responded curtly, "I'm going for a walk…"  
He walked off into the woods, leaving them to wonder what had just happened.

"I'm going to go find out what happened," Dawn said, following Ash into the woods.

"Piplup!" The penguin pokemon cried running after its trainer.

"Umm… alright," Brock sighed, "I'll just stay here then."

"Pika?" Pikachu inquired quietly.

"Oh Pikachu…" Ash sighed, leaning against a tree and sliding to the ground, "I don't know what I'm going to do…"

"Pika, pikachuuu?" It asked again.

"It's… I've just got a lot on my mind lately…" His trainer muttered in reply.

"There's Ash," Dawn said quietly as she stepped behind a tree, "Let's just listen for a little while."

"Piplup," Her partner agreed.

"Chuuu?" The small pokemon wondered aloud.

"Yeah… it's Dawn…" His trainer sighed again, seemingly able to understand the pokemon's words.

"_Me?_" Dawn said to herself as she continued to listen.

"Pika chu?" Pikachu asked probing further.

"I… I don't know…" Ash replied, "I… I didn't think so, but lately… I really do think I love her."  
Dawn gasped, "_Did I hear that right!? He loves me!?_"

"Lup!" Piplup shrieked in equal shock, drawing attention to them.

"Who's there?" Ash asked standing up and walking over to them, "O-oh… Dawn! W-what… umm… how much did you hear?"

"E-enough," She replied as the two turned a bright red.

"Well?" Ash muttered, his face getting hotter by the second.

"Well what?" Dawn asked, trying not to make eye contact.

"H-how… I mean, do you… do you love me?" Ash clarified, turning to look at her.

"I… umm… Ash.. I… I just don't know," She sighed, looking up at him.

"Oh." Ash replied, "Umm… well…"

"Listen, is that a twerp's confession I hear?" Jessie yelled, appearing in the standard giant Meowth balloon.

"It pleads to me loud and clear!" James continued as the balloon descended.

"On the wind!"  
"Pass the stars!"

"In you ear!" Meowth added.

"Bringing chaos at a breakneck pace!"  
"Dashing hope, putting fear in its place!"  
"A rose by any other name's just as sweet!"

"When everything's worse! Our work is complete!"

"Jessie!"  
"And it's James!"  
"Meowth, now dat's a name!"  
"Putting the do-gooders in their place!"

"We're Team Rocket!"

"And we're in your face!"

"Wobbuffet!" The blue pokemon finished.

"_For once I'm glad Team Rocket's here!_" Dawn thought as Meowth pushed a large button, causing a hand to eject from the balloon and try to grab Pikachu and Piplup, instead grabbing Pikachu and Dawn.

"Pikachu! Dawn!" Ash shouted, reaching for one of his other pokemon, "_Oh yeah, I left everyone back at camp!_"

"I don't have any pokemon Ash!" Dawn yelled frantically.

"Hold on guys, I'm coming!" Ash shouted, jumping onto the arm as it withdrew back towards the balloon.

"We've got to twerp stowaways!" Meowth cried as the balloon started to rise.

"Forget it!" Jessie cried, "Let's go! We've got Pikachu! We'll just bring them!"  
"Alright…" James said a little unsure.

"Hold on buddy," Ash said, struggling to open the hand that held onto his little yellow pokemon.

After a few seconds of struggling, Pikachu was free and it fell safely to the ground.

"Ash! We're getting too high!" Dawn cried.

"No need to worry," Ash replied calmly as he jumped to the arm that held her.

"Pikachu's free!" Meowth cried as he looked down.

"Let's get out of here!" Jesse shouted, "We can at least leave with out getting blasted off!"

The balloon continued to rise and the arm that held Dawn seemed to be harder to break than the other, but eventually the arm cracked under pressure and Dawn fell from its grasp.

"ASH!" She screamed as she hurtled to the ground.

"DAWN!" He cried, jumping from the balloon and grabbing onto her.

Ash spun at the last second, landing so that he broke Dawn's fall, but as a result took the brunt of the fall.

"Ash! Are you okay!?" Dawn shrieked, getting off of him quickly.

"Y-yeah… I'm…" He began, struggling to sit up.

He jerked forward and coughed up blood collapsing as he whispered, "Fine…"

"Ash!" Dawn screamed, "Pikachu! Piplup! Go get Brock! Hurry!"

"Piplup!" The pokemon yelled, already on its way, but Pikachu stood still, unable to take his eyes of his trainer.

"P-pika…" It cried, slowly walking towards them.

"Pip?" Piplup asked, wondering what to do.

"Just go Piplup!" Dawn ordered.

"Lup!"

"It'll be alright Pikachu. He'll be fine," Dawn assure the little mouse, "_I sure hope so anyway…_"

"Chaa…" It managed to say, crawling into Ash's lap as Dawn held him.

"Dawn!" Brock shouted, appearing from behind the trees, "Oh my god…"

"W-what do we do!?" Dawn cried frantically.

"T-there's a pokemon center about a half a mile up, but I don't know about a hospital…" Brock replied, grabbing Ash and starting off, "Go get the rest of the pokemon and head over."

"R-right…" Dawn replied, slowly standing up and walking back to camp.

"Pi… pika?" Pikachu whispered, running off after Brock.

"NURSE JOY!" Brock yelled as he entered the Pokemon Center.

"Oh dear! What happened to him!?" She shrieked, already calling for a stretcher.

"He fell from a balloon, I'm not sure from how high," Brock explained, "Can you do anything to help him?"

"I'll do what I can," Nurse Joy said, as Brock placed him on the stretcher, "There isn't a hospital around here…"

"I'll do whatever I can to help," Brock added, following her into the operating room.

"Brock!" Dawn shouted as she ran through the door to the Pokemon Center.

"Ash is fine," Brock replied quickly, answering her unspoken question, "He's got some broken bones, but he should be fine."

"R-really?" Dawn asked, starting to cry.

"Yeah, do you want to see him?" The x-gymleader asked, already knowing the answer.

"Y-yes!" Dawn cried, looking towards the back of the lobby.

"Go in right there and it's the second room on the right, but be quiet, he's asleep," Brock continued, pointing to a back door.

"R-right!" Dawn promised, running through the door.

She stopped at his room, peeking her head around to corner to find Pikachu sitting beside the raven-headed trainer as a machine beeped away behind him.

"Ash…" Dawn whispered, walking into the room and sitting down in a chair, "Ash I'm so sorry…"

"_If I had given him an answer, maybe we would have left and Team Rocket couldn't have grabbed me…_" The young coordinator said to herself as she her tears fell onto her lap, "_He risked his life for me! After I turned him down! He's the most amazing person I've ever known…_"

"H-hey… w-what are y-you crying about?" Ash said weakly, "I'm the one who got hurt."

He smiled at her and she burst into tears, jumping onto the bed and latching herself to him.

"Oh Ash! I'm so sorry!" She cried, "This is all my fault."

"No it's not," He replied softly, stroking her hair with his unbroken hand, "It's Team Rocket's fault."

"Ash, you're the most amazing person I've ever met," She sighed, holding him tighter, '_I think I do love you…_'

"Aww, Dawn, your making me blush" Ash whispered as Dawn's hold got tighter, "Oww… Dawn… that's my broken arm…"

"Oh, sorry," She apologized, letting go of him and sitting back into her chair, "Hey Ash?"

"Yeah Dawn?" He replied smiling.

"Two things…" Dawn said quietly.

"Yeah?"  
"First, Don't you dare do that again! You scared me so badly! I thought… you…" Dawn said stumbling though the sentence as tears began to well up in her eyes.

"Dawn, I'm sorry and I promise I'll be more careful," Ash assured her, reaching over and grabbing her hand, "Come on, shh. Please stop crying, now what was the other thing?"

"Ash?"

"Yeah Dawn?"

"Do you still love me?" She asked in almost a whisper, afraid to look him in the eye.  
"Of course! I'll always love you," He replied, shocked that she'd even ask.

"I love you too," Dawn whispered to him.

"R-really?" Ash asked shocked, "You're not just saying that?"  
"Nope. I really, really love you." Dawn promised, looking back up at him.  
"I love you too Dawn," Ash replied, smiling as Dawn crawled up next to him.

"I know," Dawn acknowledged kissing him softly before curling up beside him, "Thank you Ash… for saving me."

"Anything for you Dawn," Ash muttered, falling back asleep, "Anything for you."


End file.
